https://deadline.com/2023/04/box-office-super-mario-bros-movie-air-amazon-ben-affleck-1235318951/

Headed for a $368 million global opening (with no Japan on top of that, doesn't release there until next week), will break Frozen 2's opening weekend record for an animated movie and is still in play for the biggest 5 day opening in domestic Hollywood history (for any movie). It's pacing for a 195 million domestic (US market) opening, but it could catch the record which is Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009) which hit 200 million. 

This is basically going to be a turning point for Nintendo one would have to think. These numbers are through the roof. And for people who think it's "just a kids movie", the demographic breakdowns say otherwise -- the lucrative 18-34 year old market is making up 62% of the Mario audience. That's an awful lot like the demo breakdown for say a ... Marvel blockbuster.  Every studio exec in Hollywood is looking at these numbers and drooling. 

A Nintendo cinematic universe is totally going to happen, this is going to be a massive franchise for Universal, and if Universal is smart, they will pay whatever it takes to get rights to Zelda and Smash Bros. movies down the line. Every studio in Hollywood has been hunting for the next big cinematic universe, looks like Nintendo has it. 

You're taking a pretty big jump to say that good ticket sales for a couple of days equal the start of a new, major cinematic universe.  

The main problem I see with that is that most of the Nintendo properties that are widely known don't have the near endless volume of backstory that the comic book properties have.  In fact, a major complaint about the Mario movie is that it's nothing but fan service, with little coherent story.

People running out to see the Mario Brothers movie does not mean they're going to come running back for the next one. The movies have to be good. I'm not saying that it isn't possible to make good movies based around Nintendo characters. I'm just saying that what we have in this movie is not evidence that there is a reasonable path forward for a Nintendo cinematic universe, the likes of which you seem to be thinking. 

The Cinema Score for this movie is an "A" which is excellent, PostTrack audience data is showing 94% positive audience reaction, 82% would recommend the film, which is a good deal higher than Sonic 2 which was also well received. 

This thing is *monster* at the box office too ... I don't think people understand how rare this is, for a first time franchise entry, this result is through the roof. 

"NCU" is totally going to happen, in fact every studio head in Hollywood on Tuesday will probably be calling Nintendo trying to get in on this gravy train, if Universal is smart they'll lock it down. But no question at this point, the film rights to the Legend of Zelda, is going to be the hottest film property up for grabs in Hollywood starting next week. 

A Mario sequel and probably a Donkey Kong spin-off movie are auto greenlights after this result, the question is going to be the broader film roadmap past those two. 

There's room for the stories to improve sure, but that didn't stop things like Transformers as a film franchise from having some monster hits, I think Nintendo has more potential than that. Really honestly too, there's like 10 Fast and Furious movies and maybe 2 of them (the first one and the fifth one) have a half decent story. I think yes they can do better on the story side, but Sonic 2 improved from Sonic 1 on that end too, I think Mario can too. 

As much as I'd like to agree with you, I feel like the numbers will prove otherwise. Doesn't matter if the movie's more concerned with fan service than storytelling. People want fan service.

That said, even if most Nintendo properties don't have tons of interesting lore behind them, most are still deeper in that regard than Mario.

This proves that critics have become useless to the movie industry.

hoping for more success, i'd love to see Nintendo become big on the movie industry which means more of the games i love get adapted.

Yeah, because in the past all commercially successful movies were also widely acclaimed critically.

Same, but some Nintendo IPs just won't work under Illumination, like Zelda and Star Fox because they're too serious, and Metroid because it's way too scary for younger audiences.

Many of the best movies have also been financial failures though. Even some Disney classics like Pinocchio or Alice in Wonderland.

I was being sarcastic. There are lots of bad movies that became huge box office hits, and there have always been. Mario is not quite bad, but... it's not good either.

For the sake of quality I'd love it if this was the extent of their work with Illumination. I was a bit scared of Zelda until @Eagle367 said the other day that it should be a Ghibli movie and now that's all I want, it's a match made in heaven. As for other franchises...

Star Fox seems tailor-made for DreamWorks, especially now that they're taking a more stylized approach to their films (it's easy to see how they can adapt and improve on the style of Star Fox Zero - The Battle Begins).

Metroid... Honestly, whoever they give it to, I just hope it's a talented director who can really make a movie in the same spirit of the franchise. Which is to say, a movie unlike most blockbusters. I want it live-action, too. Think the most similar film I've seen to the style Metroid should have was Mad Max Fury Road - a lot of action, little dialogue, but still a compelling story through strong character work and acting. It's Nintendo's most promising IP to make a movie out of, but also probably the hardest to get right.

Universal will probably buy the rights to all Nintendo IP. Nintendo likes working with them and Chris Meledandri (sp?) is on the Nintendo board of directors.

A Zelda movie could use the art style that the new Puss in Boots film did which was done by Dreamworks, which is owned by (you guessed it) Universal Studios.

So that could work if they want to do an animated Zelda.

Most likely actually "Nintendo Pictures" is likely to become its own division at Universal that has its own story group which is overseen by Miyamoto and Meledandri seperate from even Illumination.

Because I don't think Illumination is going to be able to work on Mario + Donkey Kong + Zelda + Smash movies or however many Universal is going to want to make (which will be a lot) but also be able to work on Minions/Despicable Me/Sing!/Secret Life of Pets/etc.

Nintendo will need its own division.

Studio Ghibli and stuff isn't gonna happen. Nintendo is in the big boys club and they're going to want mass market product for the global market, Ghibli type animation doesn't have the same appeal globally (sadly). A Dreamworks Zelda movie like the last Puss in Boots? That could happen but even there I think Nintendo may choose to play it super safe and make a "standard CG" animation style.